Perrenial Vegetable Gardens

Posted on | July 16, 2009 | 7 Comments

purslane

Over the years I’ve been increasingly interested in not only growing my own food, but looking at the perrenial edible plants that grow naturally in the Northwest.  No doubt I love my my home-grown basil and tomatoes, but let’s get real: Portland ain’t the Mediterranean. Over the years all this talk about local and sustainable has got me asking myself: “What would natives to my region would have eaten?”

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my avocados, almonds, and all manner of California-grown produce (and thankfully, I’m not that far away from Cali) but as we move toward a more localized food system (hopefully, anyway) I am trying to envision what kinds of nutritious meals could be built around native sustainable foods.

As for meat and cheese, that’s simple. Oregon is ideal for pasturing animals with its lush, year-round green grass. Lamb, beef, pork, poultry—- all do very well here.  Because of this, we can also enjoy ultra-local milk which can be made into delicious artisan cheeses, cultivated with “grass-fed” cow or goat milk.  Eggs are also a no-brainer; chickens thrive here in the Northwest.  In earlier times, salmon was plentiful, but now it can be a little harder to procure, but nonetheless within an hour’s drive of Portland there are abundant oysters, shrimpmeat, and Oregon wild-caught tuna, halibut, and red snapper.  Buddying up to a local fisherman is not a bad idea!

So that pretty much takes care of the protein and fat requirements, but what about the obviously lacking vegetable component?  Sure, we have abundance from about May through October from produce, most of which is farm-cultivated.  But what about the notion of foraging edible plants year-round?  Are there plants native to Oregon that can replace some of our time-honored favorites on our salads?

Recently I came across an article in our local paper, The Portland Tribune, about such a concept!  A Northeast Portland couple has done this very thing; they have transformed their front yard into a perrenial vegetable garden. This requires no year-to-year planting, no weeding, and no fertilizing.  Resources are conserved and ecosystems are able to flourish.  You can read about their endeavors on their blog, although be forewarned that these folks are extreme hunter-gatherer types (i.e. they have been known to eat squirrel, which I do not judge them for, but just be warned!)

I don’t know if I’m ready to hunt squirrel (although they are abundant here around my home!), but I am very intrigued by their permaculture model. They sell starts and given classes on what they are doing, and I hope to learn more. I’ve always had this strange feeling, when weeding, that perhaps I’m destroying something that grows well here and perhaps there’s something beneficial about it.  When I really start to look around me, I see all kinds of vegetation that at first glace doesn’t seem edible, but I have always thought “one man’s weed is another man’s oregano”.

Here are just a few perrenial vegetables that the couple, Thomlinson and Latoski, grow:

rhubrab, violets, marshmallow, comfrey, daisy, perrenial lettuce, wapato, cattail, horseradish, licorice, dandelion, wolf berry, milk thjistle, fennel, chicory, rorrel, ;peppermint, lemon balm, asparagus, garlic, chives, and sunchokes, just to name a few.  The list goes on and on. You can read the entire article here.

Recently, Vern Nelson wrote a similarly inspiring article for the Oregonian on “Harvesting the Unexpected” (which for some odd reason isn’t showing up anywhere on a google search—luckily I clipped it!) showing some of the unlikely parts of typical garden plants that are edible, such as radish leaves and turnip stems, to name a few.  These are other interesting ways to extend the growing season and get the best “bang” for your buck.

In an upcoming post, I will be making a hypothetical week-long menu plan of only locally grown ingredients, utilizing some of these odd perennials listed above. I want to move in that direction in terms of my garden, and I will post updates for those plans as they are underway.

For more sustainable gardening talk, visit Shannon over at Nourishing Days for more talk on “Food Roots”.

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Comments

7 Responses to “Perrenial Vegetable Gardens”

  1. Alyss
    July 16th, 2009 @ 2:41 pm

    What a great post! I’ve been doing a fair amount of foraging for local produce this spring and summer in parks and the woods around my house. I’ve collected and eaten comfrey, sheep sorrel, red clover, grape leaves, mint, lemon balm and chives/onions just to name a few off the top of my head. This is also a fantastic region for berries! I have neighbors with both raspberries and blueberries for the taking (not to mention all the blackberries you can shake a stick at), but someday hope to add raspberries or marionberries to my own yard.

    I can’t wait to hear more about your local food finds :)

  2. renee @ FIMBY
    July 16th, 2009 @ 9:24 pm

    very neat concept. I have several of these plants in my cultivated kitchen and herb gardens right now.

    Since we don’t eat animal products, as a general rule, I find the whole locovore concept difficult to wrap my brain around living in the northeast. If it ain’t the med. in Portland, Oregon it sure isn’t in Maine either!

    I wrote about that in my review of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Still working on finding the answers…

    http://fimby.tougas.net/animal-vegetable-miracle-review

  3. Sarah
    July 16th, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

    Mmmmm . . . there’s nothing better than some stir-fried wapato. . . .

    Just teasing! :)

    Actually, great post! I’ve been thinking about this very thing recently. I’m new to gardening, but have been wondering why people spend all their time and energy (and money) on lawn and shrubs and groundcovering plants when they can plant something like oregano (I can’t see the soil through mine – a great groundcover, and edible!) or lavender. Not saying that every front lawn yard to have tomatoes all over it, and stakes of beans, and hen houses, but it would make sense to me to spend more yard space on things that you can eat than things you can’t. And, with careful thought, it’d probably look pretty similar . . . :)

    Great article and I look forward to reading your upcoming posts! My family heritage includes two Native American tribes from California (both Northern and Southern) and I can tell you what they ate! :) Other than deer, squirrel, rabbit, and fish, they ate a lot of berries, tubers and acorn mush patties and tortillas (properly soaked, of course! :) They were pre-NT yet they knew what they were doing! :) Makes me think that all those almond flour pancakes are somehow in my blood! :)

    Best,
    Sarah

    PS – I know I rarely ever comment but just wanted to let you know that I’m a subscriber, and I really appreciate and enjoy your posts! Especially the grain-free meal planning, we’re on the same boat! I also like your meal planning during Lent . . . we’re Catholic, not Orthodox, but I feel more in line with you than most.

    Have a great day!

  4. Shannon
    July 17th, 2009 @ 5:16 am

    I agree – great post! I love the idea of perennials so we planted some perennial onions this year as well as a whole perennial herb garden. I am hoping it will save me a bit of time next year.

    We’ve also wild foraged a few things this year: sorrel, dandelion leaves, black raspberries and now wild grape leaves. I am looking forward to your future menu planning post.

    Thanks for participating in Food Roots. I hope to see you back there again!

    Shannon

  5. carrie
    July 19th, 2009 @ 3:17 am

    Renee,

    I LOVED Animal-Vegetable-Miracle; it really did introduce me to this whole concept, and while I’m still far from implementing it, it’s great “food for thought”. I will enjoy reading your reveiw! Thanks!

    Sarah,

    Thanks for your sweet comment! I’m intrigued by what your ancestors ate, even if it did involve squirrel and acorns! Thankfully, I think the meat issue is easier to locally cultivate than the vast variety of veggies!

    Shannon,

    Thanks for hosting! Its so nice to find like-minded folks!

    Carrie
    @ Organic & Thrifty

  6. Peggy
    July 20th, 2009 @ 8:09 am

    I was often frustrated in my gardening in Oregon as well. Learning that Portland sits on the same line of latitude as Bordeaux, France where some of the most lovely wine grapes are produced, surprised me. True, they have some warmth from the Mediterranean Sea, but not a drop more sunlight. That inspired me to look for “early” varieties of my favorite fruits and veggies.

  7. Marcy
    August 5th, 2009 @ 11:18 am

    Obviously you wrote this post a while ago, but I believe native americans in this region used root cellar type techniques to extend produce into the winter. We’re thinking about building a root cellar at our house and we’ve started work on a permaculture type garden. (I’m the laziest weeder ever).

    Even though we don’t get much heat here in the valley (except last week!), we generally don’t have severe winters either so we’re one of the best locations for season-extending besides Maine (where the snow actually helps insulate their raised beds).

    I think if it comes down to peak oil and everyone eating locally, Oregon might be the best off of anywhere. California may be warm but how are they going to get water?

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